SAM Visit -- Monet at Étretat

The Cliffs At Étretat (1885), Monet

My daughter and I had tickets to an afternoon Mariners baseball game at T-Mobile Park. We spent the morning visiting the Seattle Art Museum and its Monet at Étretat exhibit. As you know, Monet often became fixated on a particular motif such as is evident by his many paintings of haystacks. In July of this year I posted about Impressionists' use of The Color Purple, Violet or Lilac in Art. Monet appears in >10 of my blog posts.

Fishing Boats (1885), Monet

Prior to his 1890 haystacks series, and in two separate visits to the Normandy Coast, he spent his time painting seaside landscapes along the English Channel. His main subjects were Manne-Porte arch and the cliffs at Étretat (above) and fishing boats. 

Boats on the Beach at Étretat (1885), Monet

I like how this painting of boats shows outbuildings (cabanas?) shaped like haystacks. It makes me wonder if they left an impression on his mind that lead to his later fascination with that shape.

Cliffs of the Porte d'Aval (1885), Monet

This popular vacation spot in France reminds me of our March 2019 trip to the Channel Islands off the coast of California and our boat trip and hike on Santa Cruz Island.

Santa Cruz Island off Ventura, CA

Coastal Location of Étretat

Santa Cruz Island (inbound from boat), March 2019

Luckily I had my cellphone and captured many beautiful shots. Too bad I didn't have my portable easel to paint en plein air. Notice the small slit (arch) in the rock (lower right).

One of my friends also pointed out the arch at Cabo San Lucas, which was one of the stops on our cruise to Mexico. Here is a great picture courtesy of Mike Raabe and fineartamerica.com.

La Falaise et la Porte d'Aval (1883), Monet

All of the above Monet landscapes are from his second trip to Normandy in 1885. Here is one from his first trip there in 1883. While I enjoy the atmospheric effects of the surrounding water and sky, the cliff (la falaise) seems rather flat and unaffected (maybe in silhouette?). The dark outline of the cliff creates a line of tension for me. The texture of Monet's cliff also seems more impressionistic in color and texture than the rest of his painting. Up close you can see bits of red.

Washerwomen on the Beach of Étretat (1894), Boudin

Also on display were paintings by Monet's first teacher, Eugène Boudin. The subject figures in the foreground accentuate the relative height of the cliff. Apparently, the artist was capturing a common occurrence while painting en plein air. It's almost like two paintings.

Scratch Paintings with Seniors at Old Friends Club

There was so much to see at the art museum besides the works of Monet and others. The paper cutouts  in The Geography of Innocence exhibit by Barbara Earl Thomas are amazing! Her use of light, colored glass, and intricate paper cutouts creates unusual portraits in both color and black-and-white. Her work also fills entire rooms and walls of gallery areas. The multicolor portraits overlay black paper with cutouts that allow the backlit painted glass to shine through. It reminds me of the scratch paper we used as kids where we used a wooden stylus to etch designs and reveal the colors beneath.

Walkabout Exhibit at SAM

Australian Aboriginal artist Dorothy Napangardi uses dots to create beautiful abstract paintings that will blow you away. Her Walkabout: The Work of Dorothy Napangardi is a new and ongoing exhibit at SAM.

One final note: these Kwottenal Kanye earrings, worn by the women of Fulani, captured our eyes because we made our own fortune cookie versions for one of my daughter's second-grade projects about African women's jewelry. I recall that we also used Sugar Corn Pops cereal for a necklace. We both get excited when we see something that sparks old memories. I remember back in 2011 during our France/Italy trip when she found a Rembrandt painting hidden in one of the museum hallways. And I still get jazzed when I find an obscure Van Gogh painting that I haven't seen before.